behold, my spine

… So it appears that ever since 2005, I’ve ended up with some kind of semi-shitty injury every other year in November/December. It’s like clockwork! :[

• 2005: This was at my last gymnastics meet. My hands were ripped up, so I’d made some tape grips to make life a little easier on my hands (although once you stick chalk on that, it really doesn’t matter what you have over it ;_; ). The first event was bars (my worst/most hated event that I will likely always be bitter about because I worked so hard on my other routines and never got to do them), and I ended up slipping off the high bar and doing a flip, which I’ve never done before because, as mentioned before, it’s my absolute worst event. (If you want to be good at gymnastics, try not to start when you’re 14…) I was so surprised by this unplanned occurrence that I didn’t even think to fix how I was going to attempt to land it. So I landed on my neck, heard about 27 different cracks and crumpled to the floor. Shining moments. This was the one and only time my parents ever came to watch one of my meets. I make some lasting first impressions. ._.
• 2007: December 30th, we got sandwiched into a ginormous car accident and I spent part of the night lying on a stretcher on the side of a freeway. The plus side to this was that our insurance covered our rehab fees this time, so I got to see a chiropractor. The first one I saw in Fremont took some x-rays and I found out that my neck was bent 26 degrees in the opposite direction. :[ (That explains the shitty headaches. :[ )
• 2009: Deadlifting accident of sorts. After a couple days, I was coerced into seeing a doctor since the pain wasn’t going away, despite the B vitamins, self-imposed physical therapy, anti-inflammatories, heat packs and rest. I was told that it was not a herniated disc, but it eventually led to me hanging out at the emergency room I volunteered at (oh the irony) two weeks later. I was eventually released, but was told to be cautious of the possibility of a pulmonary embolism because they were worried that I might develop blood clots. After several months, the pain did actually go away, but the break from movement was really depressing.
• 2011: I wish I knew what happened? Clearly though, I did something completely stupid and made the 2009 goodness deprove even more. I’ve probably ruined all chances of being able to win (or even participate in) the super badass competition that I wanted to do this year. :[ I’m also really worried that I won’t get to keep dancing/doing aerial silks. The constant pain sucks major butt. :[ I finally saw a chiropractor (I figured it unlikely that the doctor would tell me anything that I didn’t already know from last time). My cervical vertebrae are apparently still pretty effed up. It is now 10 degrees in the opposite direction, which is a definite improvement from 26, but…still not good. There are already signs of degeneration that shouldn’t be there since I’m only 23. There’s basically no space left between C3-C4. :[ I was fairly sure that I’d either effed up L4 or L5. Apparently, it’s L5. :[ I’m kinda hating life right now.
  sigh. :[[ must find an affordable and good chiropractor in NJ… I also need to figure out if there are any exercises I can do in the meantime that won’t worsen my current state (i guess my favorite lifts are out of the question) and will help me retain my muscle mass. ;_;